Stamp duty windfall nets Treasury £1.2bn

THE UK’s soaring house market saw a £1.2billion surge in stamp duty payments in May, official figures showed yesterday.

PUBLISHED: 00:00, Sat, Jun 21, 2014

Over the past year, homebuyers in England and Wales spent £5.6billion on stamp duty [GETTY]

Income from the tax on house buyers rose by 28 per cent compared with the same month last year.

But critics of the levy – dubbed “archaic” by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors – said the windfall proved the tax was too high.

Over the past year, homebuyers in England and Wales spent £5.6billion on stamp duty. Twenty years ago it was £255million a year.

Despite the boost, Chancellor George Osborne faced a disappointing start to the financial year as public sector borrowing rose to a higher-than-expected £13.3billion in May, showed the latest figures by the Office for National Statistics.